Acer backpedals from 'phasing out netbooks' claim

Acer won't be phasing out netbooks after all, the company said today, despite claims from one its staff that its upcoming tablets will put the squeeze on mini laptops.

The computer giant said it "finds a new form of expression in the range of tablets on offer" and that it "recognises that the computer market is changing". The range of devices available to users is getting wider, it said, but tablets are just one gadget among many that people will use for media consumption.

Tablets, it said, "will find their space next to netbooks and notebooks, without taking over".

That's not what Acer Taiwan sales manager Lu Bing-Hsian is reported to have said this week. Talking about the company's incoming 7in and 10in tablets, Lu said: "They are aimed at phasing out netbooks. That’s the direction of the market."

Acer did not say Lu had been misquoted. He was talking out of turn, it seems.

Acer also stated that "for the moment devices based on 'Sandy Bridge' are not foreseen yet", despite Lu's claim that tablets based on Intel's second-generation Core i chips are ineed inbound. ®